The Friday 5 #39

A delicious cheesy dip, wicked little cheesy pies, some really good smoked salmon and the best ever marmalade

Happy new year, everyone. I hope you all had a good rest and some delicious things to eat and drink over the holiday period.

I took down my tree yesterday which always makes me feel a bit sad. I’m thinking about festooning lights around my living room to make up for it. You can even buy lighted non-Christmassy trees. Hmmm. It’s tempting but I’m not sure I’ll think it’s such a great idea in a couple of months’ time. How do you get over the post-Christmas blues? 

As I mentioned in my last Friday 5 I’m trying to live out of the storecupboard, fridge and freezer for a couple of weeks to run my stocks down and discover what those mysterious frozen lumps are in the freezer. I discovered a pack of osso buco there from a Farmison order the other day (Farmison are the very good online butcher I’ve mentioned before) and made the classic dish along with a risotto milanese. So good and goes to illustrate that using up your stocks doesn’t mean dull meals.

Speaking of which, another resolution - or should I say intention - is to dip into my vast collection of cookbooks. I mean if I never cook from them - even just the one recipe - what are they doing on my shelves? 

I made some little cheese pies this week from A Taste of Dreams, a book I had back in the late ‘70s, which dates me I know. The interesting thing is how much ingredients have changed - I’ve included an updated version below.